INDIA/VARIOUS: Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who heads the U.N. climate panel which shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, says the world must take urgent action to tackle global warming

Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who heads the U.N. climate panel which shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, says the world must take urgent action to tackle global warming. He favours the use of nuclear energy to help ease energy shortages in India. Chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Rajendra Pachauri on Saturday (October 13) backed the use of nuclear energy to ease fuel shortages in India. A day after the announcement that IPCC and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore had been awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Pachauri said he supported Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's push for a controversial nuclear deal with the United States. "I think in our country given the fact that we are going to have several problems with supply of fuels of all kinds, nuclear is certainly a serious option and we need to look at it very carefully. Therefore I thought that the deal which we had struck with the United States which Doctor Manmohan Singh, our prime minister, had sort of spent so much of time and effort in coming up, with should go through and I hope it goes through," Pachauri said at his retreat in northern Gurgaon on the outskirts of the Indian capital, after a rigourous game of cricket. Underscoring warmer ties with Washington, the deal would allow India to import U.S. nuclear fuel and reactors, despite having tested nuclear weapons and not signed the a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. But Singh faces strong opposition within his coalition. The government's communist allies have threatened to withdraw crucial parliamentary support if the deal goes ahead, prompting talk of a snap poll ahead of its scheduled date in 2009. Pachauri said the choice of winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize would increase pressure on the international community to agree a new deal to combat global warming at a U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia in December. Gore and the IPCC will collect the prize in Oslo on December 10, while the conference is under way. "I would say that it's time for action. You have the conference of the parties in Bali in December where I think all these issues are going to be discussed. And I imagine the findings of the IPCC will be of great relevance to the discussions and the negotiations that take place over there and I hope the world will realise the reality of climate change and act both in the area of adaptation as well as mitigation," Pachauri added. Since his appointment as IPCC chairman, Pachauri, who is known for his diplomatic skills, has managed to forge a global consensus on climate change. The IPCC made the strongest-ever link this year between mankind's activities and global warming, gaining widespread publicity around the world. Pachauri often stresses the looming damage from climate change, especially to the poorest in Africa, Asia and Latin America or to people living in small low-lying islands whose homes might be washed away by rising seas. The scientist has also strongly argued that "dangerous" climate change may happen long before thresholds set by others, such as a 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) temperature rise over pre-industrial levels set as a maximum by the European Union. He said that the recognition for the panel's work would give its findings more credence at international panels and meetings on climate change and lead to some affirmative action. Pachauri spends much of his time travelling and speaking on climate change at international meetings. He jokes he "lives at 30,000 feet". But it is a game of cricket during the weekends that he really looks forward to very passionately, and misses when he is travelling. "So, I mean, it's been less than a day, actually you know, but I have not changed my routine and I just played cricket. Unfortunately I had to leave before the match was over because I have got something to do in the office at 12 'o'clock, but yeah, I suppose it's sunk in but I don't think life has changed at all. It's a great privilege and an honour to be associated with the IPCC which has been recognised, but my life goes on as it was," he added.

ITN Source | October 13, 2007

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